NSDI Clearinghouse Network

The FGDC coordinates the sharing of geographic data, maps, and online services through an online portal, GeoPlatform.gov, that searches metadata held within the NSDI Clearinghouse Network.

The GeoPlatform portal is operated in support of the Geospatial Platform Initiative to provide “one-stop” access to all registered geographic information and related online access services within the United States. Geographic data, imagery, applications, documents, web sites and other resources have been catalogued for discovery in this portal. Registered map services allow users to build and share maps using data from many sources. Registered data access and download services also exist for use by those interested in downloading and analyzing the data using GIS or viewer software.

The NSDI Clearinghouse Network is a community of distributed data providers who publish collections of metadata that describe their map and data resources within their areas of responsibility, documenting data quality, characteristics, and accessibility. The metadata in each registered collection is harvested by the geo.data.gov catalog to provide quick assessment of the extent and properties of available geographic resources.